Tag: Federal Board of Revenue

The Federal Board of Revenue is Pakistan’s apex tax agency, overseeing tax collection and policies. Pakistan Revenue is committed to providing timely updates on the Federal Board of Revenue to its readers.

Sales tax refund payment falls by 70 percent in last year

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued only Rs21.16 billion as sales tax refunds during last year which is 70 percent less than the preceding fiscal year.

According to FBR’s Year Book 2018-2019, the revenue body had issued sales tax refunds amounting to Rs21.16 billion as against Rs70.5 billion in the preceding fiscal year, which recorded 70 percent decline.

It is worth mentioning that the exporters are criticizing the FBR for holding their amount in the shape of sales tax refunds. The stuck up liquidity has created serious financial challenges to undertake production activity.

The overall release of refunds and rebate registered 21.4 percent decline during the past fiscal year.

The FBR issued rebate and refunds worth Rs121.63 billion during fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs154.72 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

The issuance of refunds in direct taxes recorded 21 percent growth to Rs83.89 during the last fiscal year as compared with Rs69.46 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

The FBR issued Rs16.57 billion as customs duty rebate during the last fiscal year, which was 12.3 percent higher than Rs14.75 billion in preceding fiscal year.

November 16, 2019

Tax collection witnesses negative growth after 51 years

ISLAMABAD: The revenue collection in 2018/2019 has witnessed negative growth after 51 years, according to year book released by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The historical revenue collection shows the tax collecting agency witnessed the negative growth in 1967/1968.

Following is the historical revenue collection figures since 1948/1949:

Rupees in million

Year	Total
1948-49	311	+
1949-50	448	+
1950-51	785	+
1951-52	951	+
1952-53	882	–
1953-54	701	–
1954-55	775	+
1955-56	965	+
1956-57	884	–
1957-58	978	+
1958-59	1,281	+
1959-60	1,178	–
1960-61	1,400	+
1961-62	1,565	+
1962-63	1,760	+
1963-64	2,083	+
1964-65	2,498	+
1965-66	2,686	+
1966-67	3,299	+
1967-68	3,213	–
1968-69	3,902	+
1969-70	4,610	+
1970-71	4,984	+
1971-72	5,162	+
1972-73	6,508	+
1973-74	9,019	+
1974-75	10,937	+
1975-76	13,193	+
1976-77	15,664	+
1977-78	19,188	+
1978-79	22,399	+
1979-80	30,016	+
1980-81	34,764	+
1981-82	38,551	+
1982-83	43,308	+
1983-84	50,331	+
1984-85	52,410	+
1985-86	59,202	+
1986-87	65,301	+
1987-88	75,425	+
1988-89	90,381	+
1989-90	104,233	+
1990-91	110,493	+
1991-92	139,776	+
1992-93	153,238	+
1993-94	172,591	+
1994-95	226,578	+
1995-96	268,037	+
1996-97	282,087	+
1997-98	293,631	+
1998-99	308,509	+
1999-00	347,104	+
2000-01	392,277	+
2001-02	404,070	+
2002-03	460,627	+
2003-04	520,843	+
2004-05	590,387	+
2005-06	713,442	+
2006-07	847,236	+
2007-08	1,008,091	+
2008-09	1,161,150	+
2009-10	1,327,382	+
2010-11	1,558,014	+
2011-12	1,882,693	+
2012-13	1,946,360	+
2013-14	2,254,532	+
2014-15	2,589,978	+
2015-16	3,115,054	+
2016-17	3,367,900	+
2017-18	3,843,755	+
2018-19	3,828,482	–

The negative growth in revenue collection for fiscal year 2018/2019 has been witnessed when Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi is performing as chairman.

The previous negative growth in revenue collection was recorded in 1967/1968 when Ghulam Ishaq Khan was Ex-Officio Chairperson of the then Central Board of Revenue (CBR) presently FBR.

Record shows the tax collection also witnessed negative growth in 1952/1953, 1953/1954 and 1956/1957 when Mumtaz Hassan was ex-official chairperson of the CBR. He served at head of the tax collecting agency from February 25, 1952 to November 01, 1958.

The tax collecting agency again witnessed negative collection growth in 1959-1960 when H A Majid was ex-officio chairperson of the CBR.

November 16, 2019

Income tax collection from doctors surges by 135pc; services sector contribution falls by 8.2pc

ISLAMABAD: The income tax collection from doctors has witnessed unprecedented growth of 135 percent in fiscal year 2018/2019, according to official statistics of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The FBR revealed that the tax collection from doctors increased to Rs2.83 billion in fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs1.21 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

Sources in the FBR said that the monitoring of professionals resulted in revenue collection growth.

Similarly, the income tax collection from engineers registered 80 percent growth to Rs5.24 billion in fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs2.91 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

The collection of income tax from another segment of services sector i.e. accountants witnessed 10.3 percent growth. The collection of income tax from accountants was Rs3.05 billion in fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs2.76 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

The overall collection of income tax from services sector fell by 8.2 percent to Rs350 billion in the last fiscal year as compared with Rs381.7 billion in the fiscal year 2017/2018.

The major chunk of revenue came from banking and financial institutions under the head of services sector. The banks and financial institutions paid Rs152.21 billion in fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs177.41 billion, registering 14.2 percent decline.

Other major revenue spinner under this head was insurance sector but it also witnessed negative growth of 13.3 percent. The insurance sector paid Rs11.24 billion during fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs12.96 billion in preceding fiscal year.

However, the income tax collection from hotels and restaurants registered 33 percent growth in revenue collection to Rs8.16 billion in 2018/2019 as compared with Rs6.15 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

The income tax collection from travel agencies posted 15.5 percent increase. The collection from travel agencies increased to Rs2.12 billion in fiscal year 2018/2019 as compared with Rs1.83 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

November 15, 2019
Steering committee constituted for FBR restructuring

ISLAMABAD: A 7-member steering committee has been constituted on Friday for restructuring of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

An office order issued by the FBR said that the steering committee shall comprise following members:

01. Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman, FBR will be chairperson of the committee

02. Ms. Nausheen Javed Amjad (Inland Revenue Service (IRS)/BS22), Member (Administration, FBR.

03. Muhammad Javed Ghani (Pakistan Customs Service (PCS)/BS-22), Member (Customs – Policy), FBR.

04. Ms. Seema Shakil (IRS/BS-21), Member (IR-Operations), FBR.

05. Dr. Jawwad Uwais Agha, (PSC/BS-21) Member (Customs-Operations), FBR

06. Dr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar (IRS/BS21) Member (IR-Policy), FBR.

07. Talha Aziz Khan (IRS/BS-19) Chief (OPS), Chairman Office (Staff Officer-II) will be secretary of the steering committee.

The FBR also constituted four sub-committees. The chairpersons of these sub-committees are as follow:

01. Sub-Committee – Re-Organization to be headed by Dr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar

02. Sub-Committee – Human Resource will be headed by Ms. Nausheen Javed Amjad

03. Sub-Committee – Field Formations will be headed by Muhammad Javed Ghani

04. Sub-Committee – Automation will be headed by Dr. Fareed Iqbal Qureshi (PCS/BS-21), Chief Collector Customs Appraisement (Central).

The FBR said that the officers shall assist the steering committee in finalizing the proposals for restructuring of FBR (Headquarters and field formations of IRS and PCS.)

The consultative committees formed on November 08, 2019 have been asked to ensure that their recommendations should reach by November 20, 2019.

November 15, 2019
FBR helps salaried persons in filing returns through video tutorials

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued video tutorials for filing income tax returns by salaried persons for tax year 2019.

The video tutorials are series of FBR’s campaign to facilitate taxpayers to discharge their liabilities.

The FBR’s tutorials enable a salaried person to file his/her annual income tax returns without taking assistance of others or paying someone for filing his/her return.

Persons having more than 50 percent salary income can take help from the tutorials for filing their returns.

The FBR facilitated the salaried taxpayers to make entries of their tax withheld under various provisions of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and claim adjustment against total payable liabilities or claim refund.

The tutorials are in Urdu language in order to facilitate the large segment of salaried persons having able threshold income in filing their returns.

The salary class is the largest tax filing community of the FBR. However, there is still large number of employees in government or corporate sector is not filing their returns.

The last date for filing income tax returns for tax year 2019 is November 30, 2019.

In order to avoid fine and penalty salary persons can avail opportunity to file their returns in ease steps as shown in following videos:

November 15, 2019
FBR launches tutorial for claiming income tax refund

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday launched video tutorial for claiming income tax refund, which is paid as excess amount or paid as withholding tax.

The FBR issued the tutorial in order to facilitate compliant taxpayers who paid additional amount of tax as withholding while making various types of transactions.

There are number of withholding tax provisions where the deducted amount is adjustable. However, in case amount of tax in annual return form is already paid than the adjustable amount can be claimed as refund.

However, in order to claim the refund a taxpayer needs to provide evidence of challans of withholding tax deduction such as bank certificates, withholding statements of tax deducted by phone companies, car purchase or immovable properties.

The FBR in the tutorial explained step by step procedure for claiming refunds of past years as well.

November 15, 2019
FBR, PBA to discuss, resolve access to bank accounts

KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Pakistan Bankers Association (PBA) will discuss and resolve the matter pertaining to information of bank account holders.

Senior officials at Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Karachi said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

They said that the matter of obtaining financial transactions by account holders had been stayed by the court of law for the past many years.

However, in the latest hearing on November 07, 2019 the court directed the FBR and PBA to find out solution and present in the next hearing i.e. November 21, 2019, they said.

Through Finance Act, 2013 Section 165A was inserted to Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 making it mandatory for banks to provide details of transactions made by their account holders.

As per law the banks are bound to provide details of account holders, included: a list of persons making cash withdrawal of Rs50,000 per day or over Rs1 million in a month; deposits of Rs10 million in a month; credit card payment of Rs250,000 per month; persons receiving profit on debt above Rs500,000 in a year.

The laws in Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 have superseded other laws including Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962; the Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992; the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 etc. yet the banks were not providing the details on the grounds of various excuses.

It is interesting to note that Chairman FBR held many meetings with banks during past three months but the matter was still unresolved.

FBR chairman Syed Shabbar Zaidi recently asked the banks to provide details of those individuals who invested in government securities through banks.

The LTU officials said that the issue would be resolved soon and banks would start transmitting details of financial transactions made by bank account holders.

Pakistan has large undocumented economy and undisclosed money is believed to be parked in banking system.

November 14, 2019
LTU Karachi identifies unregistered 100,000 commercial gas connection holders

KARACHI: The Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Karachi on Wednesday said that it has identified over 100,000 persons having commercial gas connections but not registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

This was disclosed by chief commissioners of LTU Karachi at a press conference. The media interaction is part of the strategy to update about performance of tax machinery.

Zulfiqar Memon and Girdhari Mal, the chief commissioners of the LTU Karachi, informed that the persons had been identified through data verification obtained from Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and available record from tax offices.

They said that the FBR would enforce mandatory sales tax registration on those commercial gas connection holders.

About measures against tax evasion, they said that in the first four months of current fiscal year the unit examined financial records of companies and issued notices to around 10 companies for concealing Rs100 billion. They said that one company alone evaded Rs23 billion.

The LTU officers said that the unit registered growth of 16 percent in revenue collection during first four months of current fiscal year. The revenue collection of the unit was Rs402.16 billion during July – October 2019/2020 as compared with Rs346.86 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

They attributed the revenue growth to the recent reforms initiative by the government. They said that the reforms had resulted in economic activities and subsequently rise in revenue collection.

Sector wise major revenue contributor was banking sector followed by refineries, oil marketing companies and textile etc.

The LTU Karachi has jurisdiction over 5,056 big turnover units. As per criteria the LTU Karachi will have jurisdiction over a company having over Rs400 million turnover or Rs20 million as tax contribution in a year.

Talking about the recent reforms initiatives by the government including proposed formation of Pakistan Revenue Authority (PRA), the officials said that the filed units were not against the government plan.

However, they said, the FBR chairman had assured to address grievances of tax employees related to reform program.

November 14, 2019
FBR notifies transfers, postings of IR officers

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday announced transfers and postings of Inland Revenue (IR) officers in BS-18-20 with immediate effect and until further orders.

The FBR notified transfers and postings of following officers:

01. Sajjad Taslim Azam (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) is presently posted as Commissioner-IR, (Jhang Zone) Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad. He is assigned the additional charge of the post of Commissioner-IR (IP/TFD/HRM), RTO, Faisalabad in addition to his own duties.

02. Muhammad Saleem (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (OPS) (IP/TFD/HRM) Regional from the post of Tax Office, Multan Commissioner-IR, (OPS) (IP/TFD/HRM) Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad.

03. Sahibzada Umar Riaz (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19) has been transferred and posted as Secretary, (IR Operations Wing) Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad from the post of Additional Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

04. Abdul Rehman Khilji (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19) has been transferred and posted as Additional Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Karachi from the post of Additional Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Karachi.

05. Mehran Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Karachi from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Karachi.

06. Ms. Birjees Fayyaz (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Karachi from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Karachi.

07. Shah Bahar (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Islamabad from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office, Islamabad

The FBR said that the officers who are drawing performance allowance prior to issuance of this notification shall continue to draw this allowance on the new place of posting.

November 13, 2019
Complete list of withholding tax rates for tax year 2020

ISLAMABAD: Following is the complete list of withholding tax rates applicable for tax year 2020. The rates have been updated by the Federal board of Revenue (FBR) till June 30, 2019.

The withholding tax card also included the 100 percent higher tax rates for persons not on the Active Taxpayers List (ATL).

November 13, 2019